Unsent Letters #1

Hello my love.

I got chills reading that back inside my head because I said it in the way you’d say it in your American accent when I would arrive to our weekly drinks, followed by your warm smile. These simple yet effective ways of greeting me instantaneously would make my fear of entering a room full people diminish.

I Kieren, with an ‘i’ right after the K, then followed by the ‘e’, hereby state we will be twins till the day I die, given my track record that may be sooner than I think. I’m not the luckiest kid on the block, and if I continue to show up to pre drinks with a bag of goon or straight vodka I increase those odds of death by a solid 20%, basically I need to slow down on the liquor. BUT YOU ON THE OTHER HAND, I know you are nearly legal to drink in the big old UNITED STATES OF AMERICANNA, embrace that and make questionable decisions, not as questionable as O-Week Kieren, but nevertheless stay wild. You are probably thinking the concept of sending a letter to be ridiculous in this modern age, I could send an email, or maybe a Facebook message. I think its important to take a step back and look at my atrocious spelling and handwriting because it is in actual fact, the biggest meme of all time. Plus, letters are something to hold on to and cherish. They represent value and effort. That’s my metaphorical way of saying I value you.

As someone who is a fair way into their degree, you probably think that a simple 18-year-old boy sending a letter is pretty weird, seeing’s you only knew me for a semester. But you genuinely had an impact on my life, all of the exchange students did. I was in a new place and I was finding my feet and I had no idea what I was doing, a common saying for me soon became “I’m going to see the Americans” (yet this was not completely politically correct as Emily and Rosetta are very much Canadian). I had established a base of trust and confidence in you all. You soon became the wholesome way for me to express my concerns about the hustle and bustle of friendship and life I guess. And in those first few months after everything that had happened to me, it really meant something.

Full warning, I am shaking and my eyes are glazed over as I am writing so if the paper seems brittle it is probably my dried tears, or it could be the pina colada I am sipping from this tropical oasis. ANYWAY back to you. Like a crater left by a comet you impacted the way I think. So yes I was very negligent of America, questionably so. It seemed like a radical country with guns, crime and negligent of its own hypocrisy in the way it expressed itself to be the ‘land of opportunity’. Due to these preconceived views I would say I was not a fan of Americans. I mean as to date, every American I had met seemed to be lovely, but in saying that these Americans were no longer citizens of the United States and I thought them to have minds of their own, distancing themselves from the ideologies of their homeland. Yet I seemed to be ill informed, you are one of the kindest and funny people I know. You are smart and beautiful. You articulated and expressed yourself in ways that made me change my opinion about Americans. Initially it was a place I would avoid on the world map when thinking of traveling. I am now in the mindset that it must be explored in my lifetime.

I miss you very much and I hope you are doing well and that you are happy. I wish you all the best with your future goals and aspirations. You are an exceptional person Kiera, and I’m glad I had the privilege of getting to know you.

Stay safe my love.

From the troubled white boy in Keiraville,
Kieren xx